PORTAGE | Jada Justice was carried for the last time Friday in the arms of those who loved her.
The 2-year-old's uncles, Michael Valdez and Lamont Joyce, cried openly as they carried the little girl's tiny white casket to its final resting place in Heritage Cemetery in Portage. More than 200 people followed silently behind them.
"We love you, Jada," one man called out into the silence as the casket was lowered into the earth.
It was the end of a traumatic three weeks that brought the little girl's family together -- then tore some of them apart.
Jada's dead body was found June 25 in rural LaPorte County after more than a week of a nationally publicized search that prosecutors say was prompted by a ruse to cover up the girl's slaying.
The little girl is believed to have died June 13, three days before she was reported missing by her baby sitter and cousin, Engelica Castillo. Castillo and her boyfriend, Tim Tkachik, were each charged last week with murder, neglect of a dependent, battery and false informing, Lake Criminal Court records state.
Those cases are still pending in court.
